Yes, for the umpteenth time the Isles have brought in a new vict-...er I mean coach to lead our guys in the blue and orange. However despite my sarcasm, I do believe this is a coach that can lead this team through changes, necessary changes to help reestablish a winning team on Long Island.

Scott Gordon. My last blog discussed the potential coaching candidates and his minor league record did impress me, although he did fall well short on my list with Joel Quenneville being my pick to be behind the bench at the start of the 08-09 season. Behind Quenny fell Tortorella and Hartley, with Bob being the only one to succeed to the last interview with Paul Maurice as well.

Gordon is not a lame duck coach. Nor is he a Steve Stirling. I did mention how the Isles have given chances to minor league coaches like Stirling in the past, and they are taking another chance here there is no denying that, but Gordon seems to be a coach that is ready to patiently develop through a defensive system. In addition, he is also said to be able to communicate well with goalies. Hopefully he can get through to Ricky and make him realize he can't play 70 games this year if he intends to maintain himself in good health. But with the unproven Joey MacDonald lurking in the shadows, who knows what we can expect in that department.

Over five seasons with the Providence Bruins of the AHL, he amassed a 221-141-20-27 record. Going back to his defensive mindset, Snow stated that we can expect a new "neutral zone forecheck" and changes in the "defensive zone," courtesy of Newsday. Surely this is something that will ease the minds of DP, MacDonald, and the defenseman as well. He also led the AHL Bruins last year to a 55-18-3 record, earning him AHL coach of the year honors. As we can see this guy has proven plenty in the minors over a 14 year coaching career. That also shows he didn't give up on his chance to one day coach in the NHL. Let's take that as a sign that he won't give up on this team, and can show the same patience with developing these kids as he did with the development of his career.

Despite falling short on my original list, it seems about time that someone gave this guy a chance, and he's got the right squad to do it: A set of young talent eager to prove themselves just like him.

It still will be a long year, let's not kid ourselves, but at least there's hope that we have the right man to turn our prospects into stars of the future.